MinkFlamingos

May 4 The Weekly Peanut, Issue 168

And yes, that gash on her chin from the trip to St. Louis is still there. You'll notice in the pictures from my camera that I've edited it out. Cause I gots Lightroom Skills, yo.

We finally completed the Star Wars Universe (if you ask Daphne, there are 4 Star Wars movies, and we're good with that). We watched The Force Awakens, and predictably D loved BB8 and Chewie and Rey. Although it definitely didn't come close to holding her attention as well as V or VI.

Kylo Ren takes off his mask for the first time. D: IT'S A GIRL! Uhhhh... no... kiddo it's a boy... D: BUT LOOK AT HER HAIR! Uhm... uhhh D: AND DA VOICE! IT'S A GIRL! Well...

We gave D her Rey costume, and I asked her to come outside to take some pics with BB8. It was a challenge, since D kept insisting that BB8 should stay on the ground, Rey should stand up, Rey would pose like this, etc etc etc. All the keeper pictures were the ones I caught in between her "poses."

Saturday we took D to go see The Jungle Book. It is surely a visual spectacle, but it is TOO. LONG. Not just by kid standards. And stop letting Christopher Walken sing. Please. D's verdict was that it was "too hard." So interpret that as you will.

D declared Sunday her very own Dapper Day (we missed the official event while we were in St. Louis), so she could finally wear her purple Trolley Dress. I decorated the hat myself! We parked at the Grand Floridian since we had late Breakfast/lunch reservations for Maddie's birthday at Park Fare. She really enjoyed parading her outfit around the lobby.

We made it to Magic Kingdom just in time to catch the first trolley show of the day. Even better? Our dear friend, Taylor, was in the matching purple dress. D got such an amazing response from the Trolley Kids.

We watched the show and cheered. Taylor came over and asked D if she wanted to go upstairs and play in the train station. Uh, obviously. D and Taylor's friendship is so special, and I think it stems from Taylor's abundance of enthusiasm and willingness (and time) to play with D.

Seriously, how many people wouldn't bat an eye at parasol fights?

Alex joined us and played tag. D's concept of tag is basically running around and "tagging" people while yelling "you're it!" and then randomly running away from people, regardless of "it" status.

My favorite part of the morning was waving to the peasants. Actually, the girls were enthusiastically welcoming everyone to the Magic Kingdom, but it was definitely a bit of an Evita balcony moment. Don't cry for me, Magic Kingdooooom...

Another truly cherished memory created at Disney. My heart is so full.

We still had some time before we needed to head back to GF, so I asked D what she wanted to do. "GO SEE TINKER BELL!" Wait, what? Really? Even if you are NOT allowed to play with the crayons or the necklace? Are you sure? She insisted. Hmmmm... I can't remember the last time we went to see Tink and it wasn't a hot mess...

D greeted Tink with a big hug right way. Then they talked about flowers and hats and Terrance and Rosetta. Then D got that look on her face... side-eyeing the crayon. "No, D." Side-eyeing the beads. "NO, D." Back to the crayon. "NO! D!"

Bless Tink's heart, she tried to re-engage my child, but D kicked up her heels and lounged back. Almost as if in protest of me not letting her play with all the props. The photopass helped nothing by rushing over to take D's picture as she lounged and posed, making an impromptu photoshoot. Tink made like she would sit next to D, NOPE!

*Sigh* We finally convinced D we'd need to say goodbye and give other people a chance to monopolize Tink (or more accurately, pixie hollow). Asked D what she wanted to do next. Hang out in the gift shop. Not kidding.

NO BRIDE EARS FOR YOU UNTIL YOU ARE THIRTY, YOUNG LADY! We continued to meander around main street a bit, managed to catch the trolley show on its second go-round.

Took the boat back to the Grand Floridian and made our way back to the car for D's Park Fare breakfast appropriate outfit change. Ran into Maddie 2 cars away. Bella joined us in the lobby. Tried to have the photo op right outside the restaurant. It went as expected.

No, I do not know why my kid was crying. I swear. I have a feeling they were all pretty hangry since it took forever for our table to be ready. We were finally sat, and before we could get our first plates from the buffet, Mary Poppins was at the table! Argh. I'm never a fan of when the characters arrive right when you first get sat (LET ME SHOVE FOOD INTO MY KID FIRST, PLEASE). Fortunately, D was in the mood to love on Mary. And endlessly pet her hair and hat. And ask where Polly was.

D saw Pooh at the table behind us. "MOMMY! HIS TUMMY!" Uhh yeah, Pooh shows some midriff. This is not news to you. Pooh was on our table BEFORE WE COULD GET FOOD. Perhaps because of this, D was a bit focused on rubbing his tummy. Pooh was not having it. O_o

At that point the food situation was critical, so we actually waved off Tigger and Hatter so we could get some sustenance in the children. Alice came. D pulled a Flava Fav.

She was also REALLY interested in wanting to pet and/or braid Alice's hair. D's version of a braid is basically a dreadlock. Y'all, I feel like Park Fare is responsible for 90% of my Xanax ingestion.

The Mad Hatter came for a visit, and D delivered the sass again. D just LOVES correcting people, apparently.

Tigger visited while I was getting food (not sorry, their eggs benedict is delicious). The restaurant was shutting down to reset for dinner service. Alice came back over and asked if we'd all like to go outside to the garden with her and Hatter when they'd visited their last table. Well OF COURSE. We waited. We went to the garden. What you are about to see is a true accounting of what happens in real life when you try to make a group photo happen with these kids.

This is also why I insist my kid always wears shorts or pants under every skirt. Bless Alice and Hatter and their attendants and captains for their patience and sense of humor. Bless them all.

Said our goodbyes to Bella and headed back to MK with Maddie.

We rode Buzz Lightyear and went to Philharmagic. The girls put Ian in jail.

We split up so Amanda and Haley could hold a spot for parade while we took the girls on the Barnstormer. Maddie's had a lot of reluctance for what she calls "fast rides" in the past, but Ian managed to talk her into it. Sure enough, by the time we were done, Maddie was proclaiming that 4-year-olds love fast rides and that we needed to go on the 7 Dwarves mine train immediately. D, for her part, loves all of these rides and was 100% on board for the journey. Met back up outside the Hall of Presidents for parade. D ate actual fruit.

Grapes, specifically. The girls literally screamed for every character repeatedly as they passed. "AREEEEUHHHLL! AREEEEEUHHHHLLLLL!! PETERRRRR PETERRRRRRRR!!!!"

Maddie wanted her last stop to be Pan, of course. D, as usual, claimed to want none of this. The girls were first in line, but D chose to hang back. Until Peter and Maddie started playing hide and seek, and Maddie couldn't find him right away. D came charging forward to holler out where Pan was hiding to Maddie. Y'all, the judgment from Pan was real.

Summer is here. We are all tan. And sweaty. Ew. We headed back to our cars. Maddie was asleep before they left the parking lot. D? Nope. We found a new place to try for dinner, Antonella's in Winter Park. After some research we discovered this restaurant was opened by Stefano's family. I told D we were going to little Stefano's. She was 100% on board for that.

She completely cleaned her plate. Only for Stefano's spaghetti!

Monday my challenging child was replaced by a pod person. I picked her up from school and was greeted with a massive hug, cuddles, nuzzles, nose boops, kisses, ALL the love. We got in the car. This is usually when the verbal sparring begins of me trying to get her to talk about her day while getting a series of "nothing" and "I don't know." Ugh. Monday? I didn't even ask. D immediately launched into a discussion about "watching the crabs." That there were red, yellow, and blue crabs. That segued into the crabs' families. Then our family. Cousins. Aunts. Uncles. Grandparents. St. Louis. Claiming she had a sick brother. Sharks. Sharks live under the sea. Bruce has two friends. Sharks do not have legs, they have fins. Alligators and crocodiles have legs. Sharks have sharp teeth. Sharks look like whales and dolphins but not like alligators. By the time we got home I was shaking with mirth at D's many proclamations and discoveries. But the wonders did not cease there...

D enthusiastically helped me to cook some Asian ground turkey and green beans and roasted Savoy Cabbage steaks. I fished a green bean out of the pot. "I WANT ONE! Oh! But it's too hot! You get it for me?" .... You want... a green bean? I grabbed one. Blew on it. She ate it. The whole thing. What is even happening here? "MOMMY! YUMMY!" She went on to proclaim the turkey delicious as well and eagerly approved of my spooning up a serving for her. She proceeded to pick out all the green beans, lay them on her napkin, and EAT THEM FIRST. WITH NO HELP OR PRODDING. WHAT. IS. HAPPENING.

I sit. I eat my food, surreptitiously sneaking glances at my happily eating child, waiting for her head to spin around in circles. I bring back one of the cabbage steaks. D's hand snakes out and snags a chunk. She stares at it. She takes a tiny nibble. "LOOK MOMMY I MADE A HOLE!" You really want to impress me, try actually eating it. OH MY GOD SHE DID. THE WHOLE THING. My eyes must have fallen out of my head. "Mommy you proud? You so proud of me?" Kid, I couldn't have been prouder of you if you'd just gotten on the Dean's list. POPSICLES FOR EVERYONE!!!